Elementary Schools

An elementary school aide was arrested Thursday after allegedly showing sexually graphic pictures to fifth- and sixth-graders on school computers and his cellphone, police said. Homero Martinez, 31, of Santa Ana was booked into the Orange County Jail on $20,000 bail. Tynes Elementary School has placed him on administrative leave. Saddleback High School in Santa Ana, where he coached varsity softball, fired him, police said.

Things would be easier if Academia Semillas del Pueblo didn't have such low test scores. Then, the focus could be on the El Sereno charter school's International Baccalaureate program. Or on its trilingual curriculum: English, Spanish and Nahuatl, an indigenous language of Mexico. Or on the two co-founders dedicated to teaching culture that stretches back to before colonial Mexico. Instead, the focus shifted in recent weeks to the campus' test results. Compared to schools statewide that serve similar students and when matched against campuses in the neighborhood, results are low. Last year, the school's score on the state's Academic Performance Index dropped 92 points to 624; the state target is 800. Just 22% of students tested at grade level in math, 30% in English.

An elementary school in South Los Angeles was left reeling Friday after authorities arrested a second teacher accused of lewd acts with students. The arrest of Miramonte Elementary School teacher Martin Bernard Springer, 49, came three days after L.A. prosecutors accused former teacher Mark Berndt of bizarre acts in his classroom that have generated national attention. Berndt, 61, allegedly spoon-fed his semen to blindfolded children as part of what he called a "tasting game.

A tornado touched down in Norman, Okla., Friday afternoon, blowing out windows at the town's high school and knocking down power lines, as the area braced for severe weather over the next two days.  Reports of structural damage were received less than an hour after the tornado touched down at 4 p.m. Central, said meteorologist Rick Smith with the National Weather Service. Emergency management teams were responding, though none of the damage was listed as serious, Smith told The Times.

The Anaheim City School District is seeking volunteers to tutor elementary school students in a variety of subjects. The district has tutoring programs at Palm Lane, Thomas Jefferson, Francis Scott Key and Paul Revere elementary schools, said Luz Gonzalez, tutoring coordinator. Volunteers are needed for existing programs and to help start ones on the district's other campuses. Bilingual skills are helpful, but anyone may volunteer, Gonzalez said. Information: (714) 517-8754.

Construction is underway on a new Saddleback Valley Unified School District elementary school in Rancho Santa Margarita. The new school, at the corner of Melinda Road and Rancho Trabuco, will serve kindergarten through sixth-grade students. It is Saddleback Valley's third elementary campus in the growing Rancho Santa Margarita area and the 26th elementary school in the district.

Area families, school supporters and running enthusiasts will gather Saturday for the 12th annual Great Race of Agoura. Proceeds from the runs will benefit Agoura Hills elementary schools. The event, which includes a 10K, 5K and two 2K runs, will begin and end at Agoura High School, 28545 W. Driver Ave. The 10K race, which is open to all, begins at 8:30 a.m. A 5K run starts at 7:30 a.m. One 2K run, a competitive race for children 7 to 12, is at 8:15 a.m.

As it faces a possible $27-million budget shortfall, the Sacramento City Unified School District may eliminate or combine some of its elementary schools as one of many cost-cutting measures under consideration. Declining enrollment in elementary schools -- and indications that that trend will continue -- led to the school closure study, district officials said. The study has not been completed or presented to the school board for a vote.

Los Angeles school officials have scrapped the elementary school reading program that was a centerpiece of local education reform efforts for the last decade, calling it out of date and overly expensive. The shelving of Open Court, whose adoption generated controversy, caused barely a ripple when the Board of Education voted 7 to 0 Tuesday to instead use a program called California Treasures. "Open Court was rigid in its instructions to teachers on how to deliver the program," said Tarltonette Binion, a second-grade teacher at 156th Street Elementary School in Gardena.

The La Canada Unified School District announced the appointments of Sydney Pringle as principal of Paradise Canyon Elementary School and Jerilyn Mullen as principal of La Canada Elementary School. Pringle was vice principal at John Muir Elementary in Long Beach and Mullen was vice principal at Hollingworth School in Rowland Heights. They assume their new positions Aug. 3.

Julie Rodriguez wanted improvement — but not a wholesale change of staff — at her children's school in the High Desert community of Adelanto. So late last year she signed what she thought was a petition, circulated by parents she considered friends, for more programs and better teachers. But she learned that what she actually signed was a petition to convert Desert Trails Elementary School into a charter campus, a change she says she had specifically told organizers she didn't want.

One of two teachers accused of abusing students at Miramonte Elementary School was charged Tuesday with three felony counts and fired by the Los Angeles Board of Education. Martin Bernard Springer, 49, was arrested Friday after two students at the school accused him of fondling them. But the charges filed Tuesday - three counts of committing lewd acts - involve a single girl. A law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation said the second girl recanted her accusation.

Jerry Sandusky 's lawyer said neighbors' fears were unfounded that the former Penn State football coach would pose a danger to schoolchildren if he was allowed to leave his house. In court papers filed Wednesday, attorney Joseph Amendola opposed a request by state prosecutors to keep Sandusky inside his State College, Pa., home, where he has been under house arrest awaiting trial on child sexual abuse charges. Amendola said Sandusky had obeyed the conditions of his bail and always obtained approval of a Centre County probation official to leave his house.

In a dramatic move to quell parents' fears, Los Angeles school officials said they will temporarily replace the entire staff of an elementary school south of downtown Los Angeles, where two teachers have been accused of lewd acts against students. Los Angeles Unified School District Supt. John Deasy announced the action at a tense public meeting Monday evening in which Miramonte Elementary School parents chanted "cover-up!" and accused the school system of failing to protect their children.

Think your kid isn't tempted by junk food while at school? A study finds that about half of kids surveyed from public and private school had ready access to vending machines, snack bars, school stores and a la carte lines. And they're not just selling carrot sticks. The study, released Monday in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine , looked at the foods children had access to at various spots on campus during lunch time, in what they termed "competitive venues. " Researchers surveyed children at 2,647 public elementary schools and 1,205 public elementary schools from 2006 to 2010.

An elementary school in South Los Angeles was left reeling Friday after authorities arrested a second teacher accused of lewd acts with students. The arrest of Miramonte Elementary School teacher Martin Bernard Springer, 49, came three days after L.A. prosecutors accused former teacher Mark Berndt of bizarre acts in his classroom that have generated national attention. Berndt, 61, allegedly spoon-fed his semen to blindfolded children as part of what he called a "tasting game.

When the 2011 winners of the coveted National Blue Ribbon Schools award were announced, only one of the 305 recipients was in Los Angeles, and that was a charter school. By contrast, two were located about 30 miles away, in Santa Ana - in a school district less than one-tenth the size of L.A. Unified. Yet Santa Ana Unified is far from affluent. A higher percentage of its students are poor and not fluent in English than in L.A. Unified . Close to 95% are Latino - making Santa Ana the most demographically homogenous school district in Orange County.

Want to send your child to a well-regarded LAUSD elementary school? Get your notepad ready, and maybe some aspirin too. If money is no object, move — simply purchase or rent a home near your desired school. Residential property. An office where you're writing a novel won't do. And don't take the real estate agent's word that the school a block away is your home school. Just because you can hear the tether balls being whacked, it doesn't mean your child is destined to hit those tether balls.